Fairfield Restaurant Ordered To Pay $245K In OT Dispute

FAIRFIELD, CT — A Fairfield restaurant and its owner have been ordered to pay nearly $245,000 in back wages and liquidated damages to eight employees, as part of a settlement with the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division. The restaurant was also ordered to pay nearly $3,000 in penalties.

Division investigators found that Vinny’s of Fairfield Inc. – which does business as Vinny’s Ale House – and owner Ernst H. Buggisch failed to pay required overtime to “back-of-the-house employees,” i.e. kitchen staff, when they worked more than 40 hours per week, according to a press release. In the settlement, the company also agreed to pay $2,992 in penalties for violations of the overtime, minimum wage and recordkeeping requirements of the Fair Labor Standards Act.

Officials said the investigation determined that the employer paid the employees overtime in cash at straight time rates instead of time-and-one-half their regular pay rates as the law requires. The employer also failed to maintain accurate time records, failed to produce records of the cash payments, maintained two sets of time records and provided inaccurate records to investigators.

Additionally, the employer was accused of intimidating the workers during the investigation and coaching them to lie to investigators, according to the press release. The settlement prohibits the defendants from future FLSA wage, record-keeping and retaliation violations.

“This settlement is about getting these employees the wages they legally earned,” Wage and Hour Division District Director David Gerrain said in a statement. “The Division encourages all employers to access the many compliance resources we offer, and avoid the liabilities that can come with breaking the law.”

The investigation was conducted by the division’s Hartford District Office.

Employees and employers with questions about the FLSA or any of the federal wage laws can call the agency’s toll-free helpline at 866-4US-WAGE (487-9243). All calls are confidential. More information can be found here.

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